Many impoverished Asian countries possess ancient cultures and profound Buddhist traditions. The “impoverished” attribute stems from the modern Western system which has spread across the world from Great Britain. This system reduces every citizen to a competing individual whose self-worth is measured solely by the size of a bank account. Similarly, countries that follow this system act like inidividuals in the international arena – making strategic alliances with other State actors designed to protect this status. Just as an individual “purchases” every service and attribute required for a comfortable life – a modern Nation State develops and purchases weaponry, dominates locations and projects its will around the globe. The accumulation of money is the prime-mover of this system which causes various degrees of misery for everyone living within its confines – whilst a few live very well and possess the greatest measure of choice due to the monetary wealth they control. The acquisition and control of money is the entire purpose of predatory capitalism. As this is the only recognisable method for living – every citizen is broughtup to habitally cultivate “greed” as the highest virtue for modern living. Of course, as the Buddha states that greed, hatred, and delusion are the basis of all human suffering – the answer to this human suffering is to uproot these taints through the practice of meditation and physical discipline. Therefore, Buddhists diverge from the demands of predatory capitalism through the requirement to cultivate non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. The practice of genuine Buddhism, therefore, is a contradiction to the reality of predatory capitalism. This explains why places such as Thailand – which is currently dominated by US Neo-Imperialism – possesses both a vibrant Theravada Buddhist tradition as well as large areas of abject (material) poverty. As Thailand is NOT a Socialist country (and is still a victim of Western colonial and imperial conquest) – its society offers an interesting dichotomy between two systems of self-worth, one ancient and Buddhist, whilst the other modern and entirely foreign. An individual might not possess any monetary wealth – but could be well-educated in Buddhist Studies. This aligns with the Buddha’s statement that the gift of Dharma excels all other gifts! A Buddhist monastic (or a devout lay-Buddhist) might well live a life of non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion – and therefore possess NO position within the predatory capitalist system. This is true regardless of whether an individual lives within an impoverished Asian country or an affluent Western country. Conversely, an Asian country that has successfully taken the path of monetary wealth accumulation must accommodate citizens who which to practice the Dharma to a greater degree within their everyday lives. Although it is doubtful that a capitalist country would ever allow any type of non-profit based existence – the superior morality of Socialism must ensure that individuals who which to practice the Dharma must be given the right to do this with the State facilitating this lifestyle as a matter of right.
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(KPL) Many thousands of Buddhist followers gathered at the annual almsgiving ceremony of the That Luang Festival, the biggest religious ceremony of the country on 27 November morning. (KPL) Many thousands of Buddhist followers gathered at the annual almsgiving ceremony of the That Luang Festival, the biggest religious ceremony of the country on 27 November morning. The alms giving ceremony was attended by President Thongloun Sisoulith, President of the Lao National Assembly Xaysomphone Phomvihane, along with their spouses. The religious ceremony aims to pay homage to That Luang stupa. The final day of the celebration of the That Luang Festival also witnesses an alms giving ceremony in the morning. Several hundreds of monks are invited to the ceremony.
They represent all temples in the Capital. The traditional game Tee Khee is played in the afternoon and the candlelit procession takes place in the evening to pay homage to the grand stupa. Stupid White People – And How They Betrayed the Revolutionary Nature of Buddhism! (12.9.2022)9/12/2022 Buddhism is stronger than any bullet, bomb or army! Buddhism possesses the greatest form of power and that is the ability to alter thought patterns and change the way individuals and groups perceive the material world and decide how to act in it! When White people set off for Asia in the last few centuries – what did they do? They took along (tucked safely inside them) the Bible they had so fervently had rejected on the outside! When they studied Buddhism here and there – they all managed to miss the point – and they studied the Dhamma as superior ‘White’ people pontificating upon the inferior machinations of the great unwashed (and slightly ‘smelly’) non-Europeans – those odd people who all seemed to claim an ancient culture but which no one seemed to know anything definite about! Oh – how they failed those tests! Still, they did manage to acquire the words of the Buddha and they did bring those words of the Buddha back to Europe – and what did they do with these most powerful of Revolutionary words? Well, they immediately set about mimicking the establishments of the Christian religion they had abandoned and as if this was not enough of a betrayal – they immediately began to turn Buddhism into a commodity that could be bought and sold on the free market! They then wrote copious amounts of books about how clever they thought they were and how their understanding was greater than any other Western convert! Entire publishing empires developed committed to peddling the spiritual imaginations of ‘White’ people who had been to Asia and ‘stolen’ (after-all, they never paid for) the Dhamma for nefarious reasons. The very Christian religion Buddhism should have washed away with an unstoppable wave of anti-theistic wisdom was bolstered and reinforced! The capitalism that the non-greed of Buddhism should have uprooted and laid to rest was thrown ‘Buddhism’ to devour like a bone casually tossed to a hungry dog! The Revolution that Buddhism should have caused amongst the Working-Class of the West was hijacked by the Middle-Classes who could afford to travel to exotic lands and lounge under trees for long periods of time! Trotsky in a Saffron robe – that is what these shaven headed Order of Contemplatives have brought to the West! The Buddha saw that ‘religion’ is the enemy – the ‘stupefier’ of humanity! These stupid White people with their fake sincerity and impure hearts defied the Buddha whilst pretending to follow him – and they still do! The Working-Class can wake-up in an instant! There is no need for mimicking or appropriating the culture of others! Buddhist dialectics applied properly is the end of the bourgeois inverted mind-set – the end of the false consciousness of the Working-Class! God does not exist because he NEVER existed - so away with your old Churches, graveyards and pretend royalty! Buddhism is stronger than bullets even though words can be used with the force of bullets! Buddhism is communicated with words and with silence! Revolution is greeted with turmoil and then an unfolding stability! Stupid White people rob Peter to pay Paul! The Buddhism they follow is Christ in drag! The Queen is dead – long live the Dharma Raja!
The proposition is that both Marx and religion are correct within certain boundaries of definition. I suspect that what Marx is criticising is not genuine ‘religion’ per se, but rather what I identify as ‘pseudo-religion’ - or that which passes as religion within the capitalist system. Marx has no choice but to do this as pseudo-religion is a construct designed entirely to support capitalism and draw the spiritual aspect of humanity away from non-greed and firmly into the camp of pro-greed! There is no way that Marx could construct his theory if the structures of pseudo-religion were allowed to stand! This would mean the workers would over-throw the capitalist system only to have it continuously re-established everywhere that pseudo-religion influences! Marx has nothing to say about ‘genuine’ religion as it manifests exactly the same theoretical essence as does the completed historical mission that culminates in ‘Communism’. Obviously, Marx seeks to change the inner world of humanity by transforming the outer (material) world of habitation and activity, although he does recognise that if the workers are to change the outer world they must first wilfully change (or ‘alter’) their inner (conscious) world! This is nothing less than the ‘quest’ adventures found in many (if not all) genuine religious paths. Communism is not religion, however, and must be understood as an ideology entirely outside of religion – but genuine religion does possess the inherent ability to over-lap in places with the Communist quest without contradiction or paradox. A genuine religious path, therefore, can lead a dedicated practitioner to the state of ‘Communism’ within which ALL religiosity is transcended and left behind. In this model, religion becomes a launching pad that is left behind by the rocket of Communism that blasts-off into the space beyond! This suggests that Marxism and Marxist-Leninism must re-negotiate the place of genuine religion in the quest to establish Socialism and then Communism in the material world, as this transformation of humanity will have profound implications for the conscious development of humanity and the means through which humanity pursues existence and seeks-out challenges for the next step that stimulates human evolution!
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AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles PhD - Political Commissar and BMA (UK) Historian & Researcher. Archives
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